Method for Marketing to Audience Members Based Upon Votes Cast by Audience Members

ABSTRACT

A new and improved method for marketing to customers based upon incoming telephone calls is herein disclosed. A marketing method for use with a broadcast featuring multiple performers for whom at least one audience member may vote, the vote being based upon a performer&#39;s performance, the vote being communicated by an electronic device includes receiving the vote from at least one audience member, the vote being cast for at least one of the performers, capturing contact information for the audience member who cast the vote, identifying the contact information with the performer, and communicating a marketing offer to the audience member, the marketing offer related to the performer.

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 11/671,811, filedFeb. 6, 2007, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Appln.No. 60/823,546, filed Aug. 25, 2006, entitled METHOD FOR MARKETING TOCUSTOMERS BASED UPON INCOMING TELEPHONE CALLS.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of marketing, and more particularlyto marketing to particular consumers based upon their preferences, andeven more particularly to marketing to particular consumers based uponpreference voting.

B. Description of the Related Art

Many companies deal with marketing, and many companies use differentmechanisms to try to ascertain the preferences of consumers so that theycan more accurately market to the consumer.

Current television shows have increasingly begun to engage audiencesthrough telephone and online call-in participation. For example, theAmerican Idol® television show involves audience participation throughtelephone call-in, and online voting, for participants/contestants onthe show,

With respect to the American Idol® television show, each contestant willbe assigned their own toll-free number and text message short numberduring the performance show. To vote, an audience member will watchAmerican Idol each week and dial the phone number of the contestant forwhom they wish to vote. Or, cell phone users may text the word VOTE tothe Text Messaging 4 digit short numbers promoted for each contestant.Voting will open at the end of each performance show.

During one season, there were two performance shows a week for audiencemembers to vote on—Tuesday night featured the females and Wednesdaynight featured the males. After the Tuesday night show, audience memberscould vote for any of the females who performed. After the malesperformed on Wednesday night, the lines were open and the audiencemembers had a chance to vote for any male contestant that performed thatnight. Audience members had at least two hours after the show to casttheir vote before lines close. At the end of those first three weeks ofvoting, American Idol® had a Top 12, consisting of 6 males and 6 femalesand voting would then only take place at the end of every Tuesday nightperformance show.

Voting for American Idol® opens at the end of the performance show eachweek and stays open for at least 2 hours, subject to time zonerestrictions. Outside of these times, the toll-free lines will play abusy signal and the call will not count as a vote. If a cell phone callor text message is placed outside of the vote window, the vote will alsonot count.

As part of the process to ensure that the American Idol® voting systemis accurate and ready for the public to call and vote, a test window isbuilt into the toll-free system. During this test window, anyone callingthe toll-free numbers from a phone with a West Coast area code will hearthe ‘thanks for voting . . . ’ message. This vote window is for testingpurposes only and any calls received during this time do not count asvalid votes.

If an audience member is calling or text messaging from a cell phone andthey are in a different time zone from their cell phone number, thesystems will accept or reject the vote based on the time zone of thecell phone area code. For example, if the caller has a New York cellphone area code but is calling from Los Angeles, they will be votingoutside the East Coast voting window and the vote will not be accepted.

At the end of the performance show each week, voting can begin and phonelines will be opened. Voting lasts for at least 2 hours, subject tolocal time zone restrictions, from the end of the show and during thattime the audience member will hear a pre-recorded message thanking themfor voting for their chosen contestant. Each contestant will have theirown number read/shown on air, and the phone message will confirm forwhom the audience member has voted. After the voting window, no morevotes will be accepted and lines will play out a busy signal.

Audience members can vote by text message using their wireless phonekeypad to write the message VOTE and sending it to a contestant number.This 4 digit contestant number, such as 5701, relates directly to thecontestant of choice and will be displayed on the show.

Text message voting will open at the end of each performance show andstay open for at least 2 hours, subject to local time zone limitations.Voting will not be open during the show or outside the foregoing twohour time period determined by the area code on the wireless phone.Votes sent outside of the voting window will be invalid

The present invention provides anew and improved method for directmarketing to consumers based upon votes the consumer casts, andovercomes certain difficulties inherent in the related inventions whileproviding better overall results.

II. DEFINITIONS

Audience Member—an individual from a reading, viewing, or listeningpublic, wherein “individual” can include a household or other group ofpeople.

Broadcast—sound, images, or other data, transmitted by an electronicsignal

Contact Information—any of the following: telephone number (includingcellular telephone number), facsimile number, telefax number, e-mailaddress, IP address, mailing address, or post office address.

Consumer—one that utilizes economic goods and/or services.

Genre—a category of artistic, musical, or literary compositioncharacterized by a particular style, form, or content.

Marketing Offer—making available to a consumer, a product or service.

Performer—an individual, or entity, giving a public presentation orexhibition. The term performer is intended to include inanimate objects,as well as fictional characters.

Text Messaging—sometimes known as SMS (short messaging service)—is a wayof communicating short messages via a wireless/cellular telephone.

Vote—an expression of opinion or will in response to a proposeddecision, especially one given as an indication of approval ordisapproval of a performer, proposal, motion, or candidate.

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,846 describes an invention using clusters, whichinclude taste signatures, which represent the tastes of a cluster. Usersare enabled to find clusters that match their tastes, and artists areenabled to find the clusters where the users are who are likely beinterested in their work. Clusters thus serve as hubs of activity forparticular tastes; in most embodiments ratings of items of interest tothose tastes can be viewed, and various embodiments may include variousmeans for inter-user communication so that communities of people withsimilar tastes are formed.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,853,982 describes various methods for monitoring userbrowsing activities, and for using such information to providesession-specific item recommendations to users. In one embodiment, amonitoring component of a merchant's Web site maintains a record ofproducts viewed by each user during a current browsingsession—preferably based on visits to product detail pages. Arecommendations component uses the resulting history of viewed productsto identify additional products to recommend, preferably using apre-existing table that maps products to related products. In oneembodiment, this table is generated by periodically analyzing userbrowsing histories to identify correlations between purchases, viewingevents, and/or other actions performed with respect to particularproducts. The recommended items may be displayed together with an optionto individually deselect the recently viewed items on which therecommendations are based. Embodiments are also disclosed that userecent browse node visits, and recent searches, to generate therecommendations.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,760,595 describes a method for providing interactiveaudience participation at live spectator events enhances enjoyment for aplurality of spectators. Participating spectators employ wirelessinteractive devices that present a promotional message and include userinput and output interfaces. Spectators are queried, and enter answersvia the user input interface. The answers are transmitted to a centralprocessor, stored as spectator data, and processed into results. Avisual display or the user output interface announces the results to thespectators.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,840 describes a system and method for evaluatingresponses to broadcast programs, such as television programs, includingan instructional signal modulated onto a signal transmitted concurrentlywith the television program, simulcast, or time-multiplexed with atelevision. At each of a plurality of remote receiving stations, one ormore members of a remote audience has the opportunity to respond to asituation presented in the television program by entering a response ona keyboard. The system includes response evaluation circuitry which maybe located at a central facility or partially at the central facilityand partially at each remote receiving station, or completely within aresponse unit at each remote receiving station, in the latter case theresponse unit having a memory responsive to the instructional signal forstoring acceptable responses, a comparison circuit for comparingresponses entered at the keyboard with those stored in the memory,circuitry for scoring responses in accordance with commands from theinstructional signal, and a recording device for providing a permanentrecord of the audience score at the remote station. For conducting asweepstakes, numbers or other responses are entered at the remotestations and are stored at a central facility for verification. Theprogram may be presented live conducted by a host at a central station,or by a prerecorded message accessible by telephone from a remotestation with regulation from a central station, and members of theremote audience may predict or select winning contestants.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,110 describes a system and method for analyzingcustomer behavior based on the time when those behaviors occur. Thisinvention captures information about customer transactions andinteractions over time, classifies customers into one or more clustersbased on their time-based interactions and transactions, or both, anduses this classification to perform selected target marketing andcross-selling. This is performed by temporally tagging customertransactions and interactions, analyzing the tagged information tocreate temporal profiles, creating advertising campaigns aimed at thetemporal profiles, triggering an advertising campaign, and analyzing theeffectiveness of the advertising campaign.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,722 describes a computer-implemented service thatrecommends products or other items to a user based on a set of itemsknown to be of interest to the user, such as a set of items currently inthe user's electronic shopping cart. In one embodiment, the serviceidentifies items that are currently in the user's shopping cart, anduses these items to generate a list of additional items that arepredicted to be of interest to the user, wherein an additional item isselected to include in the list based in-part upon whether that item isrelated to more than one of the items in the user's shopping cart. Theitem relationships are preferably determined by an off-line process thatanalyzes user purchase histories to identify correlations between itempurchases. The additional items are preferably displayed to the userwhen the user views the contents of the shopping cart.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,061 describes methods and apparatuses for targetingthe delivery of advertisements over a network such as the Internet.Statistics are compiled on individual users and networks and the use ofthe advertisements is tracked to permit targeting of the advertisementsof individual users. In response to requests from affiliated sites, anadvertising server transmits to people accessing the page of a site anappropriate one of the advertisement based upon profiling of users andnetworks.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,243 describes a method and apparatus for offeringpromotions to a consumer on the basis of a dynamic information profilefor that consumer. The dynamic information profile is formed by creatingan initial information profile for the consumer, selecting questions forthe consumer based on the information profile, presenting the questionsto the consumer, collecting the responses to the questions, and updatingthe information profile using the responses to the questions. Promotionscan be offered to a consumer based upon the entire information profileor a portion of the information profile.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,785 describes a telephone network modified so thatcallers making telephone calls can engage in a game of chance to win aprize without having had to specially dial the game processor, i.e., thetelephone numbers of the telephone calls are independent of the gameprocessor. In one embodiment of the invention, the game processor ispart of the switch that processes calls through a telecommunicationsnetwork. Upon conclusion of the game, the caller is supplied with anindication as to whether or not he is a winner and will receive a prize.The determination that a caller is a winner need be made only if thecall was successfully completed, that is, routed to a destination atwhich the call is answered. Advantageously, a) games of chance areattractive to people, especially when it costs nothing to enter, b) thedetermination that a caller is a winner can be immediately conveyed tohim, and c) by proper selection of the odds of winning and the value ofprizes, the game can be arranged so that its cost to atelecommunications carder is less than that carrier's presentdiscounting program.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,731 describes a system and method for wagering andfor evaluating responses to broadcast programs, such as televisionprograms, which includes an instructional signal modulated onto a signaltransmitted concurrently with the television program, ortime-multiplexed with a television. At each of a plurality of remotereceiving stations, one or more members of a remote audience has theopportunity to respond to a situation presented in the televisionprogram by entering a response on a keyboard. The system includes, ateach remote receiving station, a response unit having a memoryresponsive to the instructional signal for storing acceptable responses,a comparison circuit for comparing responses entered at the keyboardwith those stored in the memory, circuitry for scoring responses inaccordance with commands from the instructional signal, and a recordingdevice for providing a permanent record of the audience score at theremote station. For conducting a sweepstakes, numbers or other responsesare entered at the remote stations and are stored at a central facilityfor verification. Evaluation of a response may be performed at a centrallocation or by a player's response unit. The program may be presentedlive conducted by a host at a central station, or by a prerecordedmessage accessible by telephone from a remote station with regulationfrom a central station, and may be transmitted via a satellitesimultaneously to numerous central stations for rebroadcast to anenlarged participatory audience.

U.S. Patent Appln. No. 2002/0123924 describes indications of consumerdemand for local presentation of entertainment performances ingeographic areas are gathered via the Internet. Contact information,consumer preferences, and demographic information may also be collectedfrom consumers. The information may be stored in a database ordatabases. The demand information is made available to individuals andcompanies which produce, promote, distribute, sell and host shows aswell as the performers and their representatives. Demographic lifestyle,and voter preference information, coupled with voter entertainmentdemand, geographic location, and contact information, may be used by thedatabase owner, on behalf of third parties, to provide promotional andadvertising messages to voters, to provide product and service offers tovoters, and to conduct custom research studies. Demographic, lifestyle,and voter preference information, coupled with voter entertainmentdemand, and geographic location is provided, in aggregate, to consumerproducts, consumer services, and advertising companies as a tool toassist in formulating advertising and marketing strategies.

IV. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a telemarketingmethod for use with an associated television broadcast featuringassociated multiple performers for whom at least one audience member mayvote, wherein the performers are competing to advance to a final round,the vote being based upon performances by the performers, the vote beingcommunicated by an associated telephone includes receiving the vote fromthe at least one audience member, the vote being communicated for one ofthe associated performers, capturing a telephone number for the at leastone audience member who communicated the vote, associating the telephonenumber with the performer for whom the audience member voted, andoffering for sale to the audience member, merchandise associated withthe performer for whom the audience member voted.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a marketingmethod for use with an associated broadcast featuring associatedmultiple performers for whom at least one audience member may vote, thevote being based upon a performer's performance, the vote beingcommunicated by an associated electronic device includes receiving thevote from the at least one audience member, the vote being communicatedfor at least one of the associated performers, capturing contactinformation for the at least one audience member who communicated thevote, identifying the contact information with the at least oneassociated performer, and communicating a marketing offer to the atleast one audience member, the marketing offer related to the at leastone associated performer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, theassociated electronic device is chosen from the group comprising:telephone, cellular telephone, computer, and personal digital assistant.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the contactinformation is chosen from the group comprising: physical address, postoffice box, telephone number, and e-mail address.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the at leastone audience member is not in the same physical location as theassociated performers.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention,communicating a marketing offer to the at least one audience member, themarketing offer related to the at least one associated performerincludes contacting the at least one audience member by telephone andoffering for sale, at least one item containing the likeness, name,voice recording, or image of the at least one associated performer forwhom the at least one audience member voted.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, receivingthe vote from the at least one audience member, the vote beingcommunicated for at least one of the associated performers includesproviding a phone number for the at least one audience member to call tocommunicate a vote, associating a different number with each of theassociated multiple performers, and when the at least one audiencemember enters the number for the performer, associating an electronicsignal, from a telephone used by the at least one audience member, witha vote for the performer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, receivingthe vote from the at least one audience member, the vote beingcommunicated for at least one of the associated performers includesproviding an electronic server for receiving e-mail, providing aninteractive website, providing voting via e-mail for at least one of theassociated performers, and receiving the e-mail vote from the at leastone audience member, the vote being communicated for at least one of theassociated performers.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodcomprises at least two rounds of voting.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodfurther includes determining categories of marketing offers in whichthere is a correlation between the categories and the associatedperformer and communicating at least one marketing offer to the audiencemember, wherein the marketing offer is chosen from at least one of thecategories.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the audiencemember has communicated at least two votes, wherein the method furtherincludes determining a number of times the audience member has voted forthe associated performer, providing a first marketing offer related tothe at least one associated performer, and providing at least a secondmarketing offer related to the at least one associated performer,wherein the first marketing offer and the at least a second marketingoffer are different depending on the number of times the audience membervoted for the associated performer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodfurther includes categorizing the performers by genre, analyzing votescommunicated by the audience member to determine if the votes are all orat least substantially all for a particular genre, and communicating amarketing offer to the audience member based upon the genre.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodfurther includes providing a sweepstakes, after a winner is chosen fromamong the associated performers, entering the audience member in thesweepstakes with each vote communicated for the winner, and selecting awinner of the sweepstakes from all available entries.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, theperformer's performance is a song and the broadcast is a televisionbroadcast.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the at leastone audience member votes for the performer the audience member wants toadvance to the next round.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, thecommunicating a marketing offer to the at least one audience member, themarketing offer related to the at least one associated performerincludes communicating a marketing offer to the at least one audiencemember, the marketing offer related to the at least one associatedperformer, wherein the marketing offer contains a voice message from theat least one associated performer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the audiencemember communicates at least four votes, the method further includesproviding the first marketing offer if the audience member voted for theperformer once, providing the second marketing offer if the audiencemember voted for the performer twice, and providing a third marketingoffer if the audience member voted for the performer more than twice.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a marketingmethod for use with an associated broadcast featuring associatedmultiple performers for whom at least one audience member may vote, thevote being based upon a performer's performance, the vote beingcommunicated by an associated electronic device, the method includesreceiving votes from multiple audience members, the votes beingcommunicated for at least one of the associated performers, capturingcontact information for the audience members who communicated the votes,identifying the contact information with the at least one associatedperformer for whom each audience member voted, and compiling a databaseof contact information and votes communicated in order to develop fanclubs for the associated performer.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the methodfurther includes obtaining permission from the audience member tocapture the contact information and to solicit the audience member withoffers related to the performer(s). In accordance with another aspect ofthe present invention, a marketing method for use with an associatedbroadcast featuring associated multiple performers for whom at least oneaudience member may vote, the vote being based upon a performer'sperformance, the vote being communicated by an associated electronicdevice includes receiving the vote from the at least one audiencemember, the vote being communicated for at least one of the associatedperformers, communicating a marketing offer to the at least one audiencemember at the time of the vote being communicated, the marketing offerrelated to the at least one associated performer, and providing meansfor the at least one audience member to substantially immediatelyrespond to the marketing offer.

Still other benefits and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding ofthe following detailed specification.

V. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention involves capturing the following data: thetelephone number(s) of the voter(s) from a caller identification device,and the content of the vote (i.e. who or what they voted for). Theprocess used for capturing data is well known in the art, and for thesake of brevity, will not be further defined herein. The data capturedwould then be used to market and sell products (such as American Idol®CDs, etc.) related to the specific content/performer voted for. Forexample, those audience members who voted for Carrie Underwood wouldhave Carrie Underwood CDs marketed to them. In one embodiment of theinvention, the marketing would occur for a specific, pre-set period oftime, although this is not a requirement of the invention. Telephonesolicitation for sales of products to voters could utilize recordedmessages from the performer, person, product, mascot, etc. for whom thevoter voted for. For example, a recording of Carrie Underwood promotingher CD could be played to those who voted for her, via computerizedtelephone solicitation.

By way of example of the above embodiment, an audience member uses thetelephone call-in number to vote for Carrie Underwood after a particularepisode of American Idol®. A pre-recorded message is played for theaudience member prior to the vote that states that casting a votecomprises the audience member's agreement to allow the television show,or a third party, to market certain products and/or services to theaudience member, and allows the collection and storage of contactinformation for the audience member. The audience member's telephonenumber is retrieved and placed in a database, wherein the telephonenumber is associated with Carrie Underwood based on the audiencemember's vote. For the next three weeks, a telephone call will beperiodically placed to the audience member, offering products, using orincorporating, Carrie Underwood's image, likeness, and/or voice. Duringthe telephone call, a pre-recorded message from Carrie Underwood isplayed for the audience member, asking the audience member if they wouldlike to purchase her new CD. The message could also include any otheravailable products, or an offer to join Carrie's fan club. An automatedresponse system could be used to allow the audience member to make aselection/purchase based on the available options.

In another embodiment of the invention, reverse look up could be used tofind audience member addresses, including physical and e-mail addresses,using their telephone numbers. Once the addresses are obtained, certainproducts and/or services would be marketed to the voter via regular mailor e-mail. As in the example above, the products and/or services wouldbe associated with the performer for whom the audience member voted. Acatalog of products related to the performer could be mailed to theaudience member. The process of reverse look up is well known in theart, and, for the sake of brevity, will not be further described herein.

In another embodiment of the invention, the television show, online webcast, etc. could state that all votes called in or submitted onlineconstitute a “business relationship” with the caller, permittingcall-back by the show/performer(s) to inform the voter of productsand/or services. This would aid the entity doing the marketing inavoiding potential legal difficulties with respect to mail, e-mail, andtelephone solicitations. It is to be understood that this invention alsoincorporates an active permission being obtained from the audiencemember. For example, in order to continue with the vote, the audiencemember would have to indicate agreement to receive marketing offersand/or marketing material.

In another embodiment of the invention, the marketing effort is tied toa particular genre. In this embodiment, information is collected foraudience members based upon multiple votes by the audience member. Theavailable performers that can be voted for are categorized intoparticular genres. The categorization may be done manually or via asorting database or program. Particular marketing offers are thenassociated with each genre. The audience member's votes are comparedwith the available genres. If it is determined that the audiencemember's votes fall within a particular genre, the audience member willreceive marketing offers and/or marketing material related to thatparticular genre. The particular method used for developing the genresand/or determining whether an audience member's votes sufficiently fallwithin that genre are not intended to be limitations of this invention.Any method may be chosen, as long as chosen using sound business andmarketing judgment. It is also within the scope of this invention tosend the audience member marketing offers and/or marketing materialsfrom more than one genre, as it is contemplated by this invention thatan audience member's votes and/or a particular performer may be in morethan one genre.

By way of example of the above embodiment, an audience member casts tenvotes over a period of time. Nine of the ten votes were cast forperformers that fall into the hard rock genre. With the collectedcontact information, the audience member is sent marketing offers and/ormarketing materials related to hard rock. Some examples of the types ofoffers and/or marketing material include, but are not limited to, thefollowing: audiocassettes, CDs, movies, clothing, posters, toys, concerttickets, books, and magazine subscriptions. In this embodiment, anaudience member's votes are considered within a genre if more than halfof the votes are cast in that particular genre.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a database is created ofthe number of times each audience member has voted for a particularperformer. It is possible that as a particular contest or broadcastprogresses, that an audience member may vote for a particular performermore than once, if the performer continues to advance. A differentmarketing approach could be taken toward audience members who have votedfor a particular performer on multiple occasions. For example, if anaudience member voted for a particular performer four times, a limitedor special edition of an item could be offered to that audience member.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a list of contactinformation for various audience members could be compiled for use indeveloping a fan club for a particular performer. The contactinformation could also be maintained indefinitely so as the particularperformer creates additional material (i.e. a new CD, book, etc.) theaudience member could be contacted.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the audience member isentered into a sweepstakes each time they vote. In one embodiment, afterthe call-in session is over, the name of an audience member is randomlyselected from the available entries, and the winner receives a prize. Inone embodiment, the prize could be associated with the performer forwhom the winner voted. In another embodiment, the sweepstakes winner islimited to audience members who voted for the eventual winner or thosewho advanced to the next round. In another embodiment, the audiencemembers who voted for the eventual winner, or those performers thatadvanced to the next round, receive more entries than audience memberswho voted for other performers. It is to be understood that thesweepstakes drawing could be held at any time chosen using soundbusiness and marketing judgment.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the marketing offer isprovided to the audience member at the time of their vote. For example,if an audience member calls in to vote for Carrie Underwood, a recordingwill ask the audience member if they would like to place an order forCarrie Underwood's new CD. Any other type of marketing offer could bepresented at this time as well. The audience member could then respondwith a “yes,” “no,” or “not at this time” response. The response couldbe verbal, using voice recognition technology, or keys on a phone couldbe depressed to correspond to the responses, or options for respondingcould be provided on an online page.

It is to be understood that this invention is intended to include anytype of situation where an audience member may vote on a performer. Theperformances are not limited to humans or even animate objects. It isalso understood that this invention can be done automatically or withhuman intervention.

It is to be understood that this invention incorporates any type ofsituation where an individual or entity submits a vote (or other mode ofshowing preference) for another individual or entity involved in someform of contest. Also, the invention is intended to incorporate anymarketing use of information gathered from these votes.

The invention has been described with reference to several embodiments.

Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon areading and understanding of the specification. It is intended byapplicant to include all such modifications and alterations insofar asthey come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalentsthereof.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A telemarketing method for use with an associatedtelevision broadcast featuring associated multiple performers for whomat least one audience member may vote, wherein the performers arecompeting to advance to a final round, the vote being based uponperformances by the performers, the vote being communicated by anassociated telephone, the method comprising the steps of: receiving thevote from the at least one audience member, the vote being communicatedfor one of the associated performers; capturing a telephone number forthe at least one audience member who communicated the vote; associatingthe telephone number with the performer for whom the audience membervoted; and, offering for sale to the audience member, merchandiseassociated with the performer for whom the audience member voted.
 23. Amarketing method for use with an associated broadcast featuringassociated multiple performers for whom at least one audience member mayvote, the vote being based upon a performer's performance, the votebeing communicated by an associated electronic device, the methodcomprising the steps of: receiving the vote from the at least oneaudience member, the vote being communicated for at least one of theassociated performers; capturing contact information for the at leastone audience member who communicated the vote; identifying the contactinformation with the at least one associated performer; and,communicating a marketing offer to the at least one audience member, themarketing offer related to the at least one associated performer. 24.The method of claim 23, wherein the associated electronic device ischosen from the group comprising: telephone, cellular telephone,computer, and personal digital assistant.
 25. The method of claim 24,wherein the at least one audience member is not in the same physicallocation as the associated performers.
 26. The method of claim 23,wherein communicating a marketing offer to the at least one audiencemember, the marketing offer related to the at least one associatedperformer comprises the steps of: contacting the at least one audiencemember by telephone; and, offering for sale, at least one itemcontaining the likeness, name, voice recording, or image of the at leastone associated performer for whom the at least one audience membervoted.
 27. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving the vote from theat least one audience member, the vote being communicated for at leastone of the associated performers comprises the steps of: providing aphone number for the at least one audience member to call to communicatea vote; associating a different number with each of the associatedmultiple performers; and, when the at least one audience member entersthe number for the performer, associating an electronic signal, from atelephone used by the at least one audience member, with a vote for theperformer.
 28. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving the vote fromthe at least one audience member, the vote being communicated for atleast one of the associated performers comprises the steps of: providingan electronic server for receiving e-mail; providing an interactivewebsite; providing voting via e-mail for at least one of the associatedperformers; and, receiving the e-mail vote from the at least oneaudience member, the vote being communicated for at least one of theassociated performers.
 29. The method of claim 23, wherein the methodfurther comprises the steps of: determining categories of marketingoffers in which there is a correlation between the categories and theassociated performer; and, communicating at least one marketing offer tothe audience member, wherein the marketing offer is chosen from at leastone of the categories.
 30. The method of claim 23 wherein the methodfurther comprises the steps of: determining a number of times theaudience member has voted for the associated performer; providing afirst marketing offer related to the at least one associated performer;and, providing at least a second marketing offer related to the at leastone associated performer, wherein the first marketing offer and the atleast a second marketing offer are different depending on the number oftimes the audience member voted for the associated performer.
 31. Themethod of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:categorizing the performers by genre; analyzing votes communicated bythe audience member to determine if the votes are at least substantiallyall for a particular genre; and, communicating a marketing offer to theaudience member based upon the genre.
 32. The method of claim 23,wherein the method further comprises the steps of: providing asweepstakes; after a winning performer is chosen from among theassociated performers, entering the audience member in the sweepstakeswith each vote communicated for the winning performer; and, selecting awinner of the sweepstakes from all available entries.
 33. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the communicating a marketing offer to the at leastone audience member, the marketing offer related to the at least oneassociated performer comprises the step of: communicating a marketingoffer to the at least one audience member, the marketing offer relatedto the at least one associated performer, wherein the marketing offercontains a voice message from the at least one associated performer. 34.The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprising the stepsof: providing the first marketing offer if the audience member voted forthe performer once; providing a second marketing offer if the audiencemember voted for the performer twice; and, providing a third marketingoffer if the audience member voted for the performer more than twice.35. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises thestep of: obtaining permission from the audience member to capture thecontact information.
 36. The method of claim 23, wherein the methodfurther comprises the step of: informing the audience member thatcasting their vote constitutes permission to capture the audiencemember's contact information and to contact the audience member.
 37. Amarketing method for use with an associated broadcast featuringassociated multiple performers for whom at least one audience member mayvote, the vote being based upon a performer's performance, the votebeing communicated by an associated electronic device, the methodcomprising the steps of: receiving the vote from the at least oneaudience member, the vote being communicated for at least one of theassociated performers; communicating a marketing offer to the at leastone audience member at the time of the vote being communicated, themarketing offer related to the at least one associated performer; and,providing means for the at least one audience member to substantiallyimmediately respond to the marketing offer.